Shawano Cleary | Special to the Kalamazoo GazetteThe television screens at the Kalamazoo County Jail have been switched over from regular TV shows to "Cellblock to Classroom," a series of educational programs funded by several nonprofit groups in the community.

KALAMAZOO -- "Oprah" is off the air at the Kalamazoo County Jail.
Regular television shows were replaced last week with educational programming during most daytime hours.

Although some inmates grumbled about the change, Lt. Gail Sampsell, second-in-command of the jail, reminded them during a tour of the facility Thursday that they "had no control over the TV anyway."

The channel change came from "The Cellblock to Classroom Program," started by a group of volunteers primarily from St. Thomas More Catholic Student Parish who have been involved with Bible studies at the jail.

The idea that more needed to be done to educate jail inmates came to parish member Frank Sila when one participant called himself a responsible man because he didn't beat his wife in front of the children.

"I expected a punch line to a bad joke," Sila said. "He was dead serious."

Knowing the jail is strapped for cash and unable to do more than warehouse offenders, Sila and his group researched ways to get helpful ideas to inmates.

There is no way to move inmates to classrooms, but there are televisions in most cell blocks -- about 60 throughout the jail.

Grants totaling $50,000 from the Catholic Diocese of Kalamazoo, the Fetzer Foundation, the Kalamazoo Community Foundation and other donors allowed the group to pick up commercially produced programming and pay for the computer hardware and software to run the new system, along with several new flat-screen monitors.

Capt. Tom Shull, who is in charge of the jail, said he was skeptical when first approached. But the idea eventually made sense to him.

"Instead of watching mindless TV for 16 hours a day, it's 'How to write a resume,' 'How to be a better parent,' 'How to avoid an STD (sexually transmitted disease).' And there's some network TV, the news."

The new program, which contain no religious overtones, begins in the morning with a section on jail rules, meant to bring new inmates up to speed on what to expect in the facility. It typically returns to regular television scheduling at 6 p.m.

"They suck. They're loud. And it keeps me up all day," inmate Anthony Hood said of the educational shows. Other inmates in his cell said they'd rather see the educational shows reduced to once a week so they can watch regular TV.

Tracy Leighton, 36, of Kalamazoo, said she liked the programs and learned from them. In on an "unlawful-driving-away-a-motor vehicle" charge -- which she said was linked to drugs and depression -- Leighton said she was ready to listen to the messages, particularly those on addiction.

Her cellmate, Alyssa Goertler, however, complained that it was hard to see and hear the television in their cell block and that most of the programming didn't apply to her.

"I learned a lot more about prison and drugs than I ever needed to know," she said.

What would she rather see a program about?

"Cosmetology," she said. "That's my thing."

Terry Collins, a self-described "20-year veteran" of the corrections system in for a parole violation on a weapons charge, said he'd rather see more information on programs available to offenders when they get out of jail.

"We're getting a lot of young guys into the system," he said. "They don't know what's out there.